Martin Hoke: “we have had more than 2 dozen congressional hearings, thousands and thousands of pages of testimony, dozens of town…”

“we have had more than 2 dozen congressional hearings, thousands and thousands of pages of testimony, dozens of town meetings and open forums. Every Member on this side of the aisle has solicited the advice, the consent, the input of their constituents to find out what is the best way to go about this. This notion that somehow this has been done behind closed doors is so pathetic and misleading and is another one of their tactics. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask today, what exactly is it that the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have in common? Well, they have both applauded congressional Republicans for having the courage of attacking the impending bankruptcy of Medicare. As I reported yesterday, the Post wrote the Republicans have, ``forcefully taken the right position on the basic issue of controlling costs.'' Then the Wall Street Journal said ``the emerging GOP plan--to save Medicare--so far looks like the best news for American health care in years.'' There we have it. The most liberal paper in America and the most conservative paper in America both agree that the Republicans are on the right track and they both chide the Democrats for playing partisan political games with one of the most important issues in the land. It is not too late for my Democrat colleagues to put aside the partisan rhetoric and join us in saving Medicare.”